Time hasn't dulled anger toward Ronald Smith, the lone Canadian on death row in the U.S.

Harvey Mad Man and Thomas Running Rabbit, cousins killed by Canadian Ronald Smith in 1982. Smith was sentenced to death, but is appealing for clemency. A three-person board in Montana will hear the case this week.

“Every time I go past that route, I think about it. Each one of us thinks about it,” Grant said a few days ago from his home in Browning, Mont.

“The hurt has never diminished. It’s still there.”

The murders of cousins Mad Man and Running Rabbit cut a wide swath through their large extended family and through the Blackfeet Indian reserve in and around Browning, not far from the border between Alberta and Montana.

It took weeks to find the bodies of Mad Man, 23, and Running Rabbit, 19, in remote country near the Marias Pass — an effort that involved many relatives and members of Blackfeet community.

“They were left there like animals,” said Marie Talks About, Grant’s sister and an aunt to both victims.

“We couldn’t even look at them, we couldn’t touch them because of the closed caskets.”

The family is convinced trauma and heartache caused the premature deaths of the boys’ grandmother, their mothers and other family members — yet Grant and Talks About feel little attention has been paid to the affect Smith’s crime has had on them. Instead, they say, the focus has been on Smith, who changed his initial request for the death penalty shortly after it was imposed, setting in motion nearly 30 years of appeals.

The final chapter begins Wednesday, when a clemency hearing begins at the Powell County courthouse. A three-member panel will hear evidence for and against sparing Smith’s life and will make a recommendation to Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who will ultimately decide whether Smith lives or dies.

Grant and Talks About plan to deliver statements urging the state to carry out the execution — the first time Mad Man and Running Rabbit’s family will have a voice in the legal proceedings.

“Ronald Smith has enjoyed all the due processes our constitution guarantees to everybody,” Grant said.

“Not one time has the family had a chance to rebut (Smith’s claims) — until now.”

The focus on Smith, though upsetting to the victims’ family, is understandable considering the larger political implications of the case. For years, the Canadian government intervened on Smith’s behalf, based on Canada’s official rejection of capital punishment in our country. The former Liberal government lobbied U.S. officials to commute Smith’s death sentence, going so far as seeking his transfer to a Canadian prison under a treaty between the two countries.

After their election in 2006, the Conservatives ended their support of Smith’s clemency bid, prompting his legal team to take the case to the Federal Court of Canada. The court ordered the government to support Smith — and it did, with a terse letter to Montana authorities last December described by critics as a bare-minimum effort to comply with the federal court ruling.

It’s anybody’s guess whether Canada’s interventions (or lack thereof) will have any effect on the board’s recommendation to Schweitzer, or the governor’s decision.

Nor does Montana have extensive experience with capital punishment. Since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in the late 1970s, Montana has executed three prisoners. The Board of Pardons and Parole has considered two clemency applications involving death penalty cases — commuting one sentence to life without parole, denying the other.

The last man executed in Montana was triple murderer David Dawson in 2006, who did not make a clemency application.

Dawson’s execution has been the only one during Schweitzer’s time in office. The governor has not made a definitive statement about what he will do in Smith’s case. Schweitzer has expressed support for the death penalty in the past, but said in 2009 he wasn’t “absolutely sure” about capital punishment. “It feels like you’re carrying more than the weight of an Angus bull on your shoulders,” he told Canadian Press.

A key question the Montana board will have to consider is what steps Smith has taken to rehabilitate himself. I’m scheduled to interview Smith today at Montana State Prison — read some of what he has to say in Wednesday’s Herald.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.

Almost Done!

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Market to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.